The cavern was a hive of activity and was being lit by hundreds of floating illumination orbs that the cultivators had released to banish the gloom. The air which was once heavy with the scent of ancient rot now smelled of ozone, burnt flesh and the metallic tang of valuable beast blood.

  Captain Wei of the Thunderclap Mercenaries wiped sweat and grime from his forehead. He was leaning his axe against the massive and cooling corpse of a Magma-Drake. The beast was the size of a small house, its scales still radiating enough heat to singe the eyebrows of anyone who got too close.

  "Careful with the gall bladder!" Wei shouted at two younger mercenaries who were elbow-deep in the drake’s chest cavity. "If you puncture it, the acid will ruin the heart. That heart is worth more than your entire village!"

  "Yes, Captain!" the mercenaries shouted back at him. Their voices were trembling with a mixture of exhaustion and greed. They had not seen such a harvest in their entire lives.

  Wei shook his head and he continued looking around the cavern. It was a scene of organized butchery. Two thousand cultivators were moving like ants over the carcasses of fallen giants. The "cleanup crew" had become the "harvesting crew."

  Usually after a battle of this magnitude the mood would be somber. There would be funeral pyres being built, medics rushing to stabilize the dying and commanders tallying the cost of victory.

  But today? Today, the only injuries were mostly minor. Everyone had focused on keeping themselves and those around them safe. There was no push to break through enemy forces or fighting for their lives. Besides when the five powerful beings showed up, the rest of the time was them focused on defense.

  "Unbelievable," a voice muttered beside him.

  Wei turned to see an Elder from the Iron Blood Sect. The man was staring not at the loot but at the center of the cavern where the Commander sat.

  Li Yu was sitting on a flat rock and was half cleaning his robes and half talking. At his feet sat the wretched and trembling old man in grey robes.

  "I still can't wrap my head around it," the Elder whispered. "That old man... back then his aura forced me to my knees. I felt my soul cracking under the weight. And now? He looks like a servant waiting for orders. Not only that, he seems to be begging for his life. It would seem that he isn’t even yet a servant."

  "Don't look at him too long," Wei advised as he spitted on the ground. "Even if he looks like a grandpa and is powerless. He's a monster wearing human skin. If the Commander hadn't collared him, we’d all be smears on the wall."

  "Who is he, do you think?" the Elder asked. "A Beast King? A mutant? Clearly the leader here but he seemed much stronger than the other leaders I have seen in the past."

  Wei looked at the four massive carcasses of the Soul Formation lieutenants—the two Magma-Drakes and the two Storm-Tigers—that Li Yu had dumped unceremoniously on the floor.

  "If those four were his lackeys," Wei said grimly, "then he’s something far worse than a King."

  Near the entrance to the deep tunnels, the three leaders of the vassal forces stood together. Sect Master Zhou, Matriarch Su and Commander Lei formed a small circle of authority amidst the chaos of the cleanup.

  They were trying to look composed but the adrenaline was still humming in their veins making their hands involuntary twitch. They had never been a part of such a one sided battle before. Not at this scale and power anyways.

  They had crushed weaklings before with ease. However, they had never faced opponents at the same level as them and won so easily. Even if they had not been the ones fighting, being a part of such a thing was exciting.

  "The initial tally is in," Matriarch Su said while still playing with her steel fan. Her usually immaculate robes were stained with black ichor but she didn't seem to care. "Between the outer valley, the tunnel horde, and these... four... heavyweights, the value of the resources we have secured today exceeds the Violet Silk Pavilion’s total revenue for the last ten years."

  Commander Lei let out a bark of laughter that sounded a bit hysterical. He leaned heavily on his hammer. "Ten years? Try twenty. My boys are pulling cores out of the walls like they're picking berries. And the best part? We didn't lose a single soul. Not one."

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  He looked at Zhou. "Staying back. Cleaning up. If we had tried to be heroes when those five showed up..."

  "We would be dead," Zhou finished for him. "Instantaneously. The four we could hold back, possibly escape. Maybe even win. But their leader… not a chance."

  Zhou looked over at Li Yu. The young man was currently speaking to the old man and was gesturing vaguely at the ceiling of the cavern.

  "He fought five Soul Formation entities in the Void or wherever he fought." Zhou murmured. "And he came back with a prisoner and four intact corpses. He didn't blast them into dust. He killed them cleanly to preserve the value for us and of course himself as well."

  "He kept his word," Matriarch Su said softly. "Fifty-fifty. He’s letting us take fifty percent of treasures. Any other commander from the Great Sects would have tossed us a few scraps and claimed the rest as a 'protection fee.' Li Yu... he is different. Not only did he fight to limit our losses, he is sharing as well. It is a rare thing to meet someone like him in this world. I wish him fortune in his future adventures."

  "He's terrifying," Lei corrected. "But thankfully he is on our side."

  The three leaders straightened as Li Yu stood up. He dusted off his robes and began walking toward them. The old man scrambled to his feet and shuffled behind Li Yu, keeping his head bowed low.

  As they approached, the pressure coming off the old man was faint. It was currently being suppressed by the man himself. But even that faint aura made the hairs on Commander Lei’s arms stand up. It felt like standing next to a dormant volcano.

  "Commanders," Li Yu greeted them with a nod. "How goes the harvest?"

  "It goes well, Alliance Commander," Zhou bowed deeply out of respect. It was not the respect that one gave for a person of higher rank, it was respect earned through actions. It didn’t mean that he would go die for Li Yu, he simply respected his actions thus far. "The disciples are efficient. We should have the area cleared and the resources cataloged within the hour."

  "Good," Li Yu said. He gestured to the old man behind him with his thumb. "I wanted to introduce you to Gale."

  The old man flinched at the name but didn't dare object. He kept his eyes on the floor.

  "Gale," Li Yu said. "Tell them what you are."

  The old man swallowed hard. His voice was raspy, like wind blowing through dry corn stalks. "I... I am the Grey-Wind Emperor. Ruler of the Western Crags. A... what you humans would call a Beast Emperor."

  Matriarch Su inhaled sharply. Commander Lei’s grip on his hammer tightened until his knuckles turned white.

  "A Beast Emperor," Zhou repeated. "A Beast Emperor. Here? In the Jagged Peaks?"

  A Beast Emperor was one of the ruling beasts in the beast territory. There were several Beast Emperors that ruled over those lands, much like how the Five Mountain Alliance ruled over the human side. They each had their own territory and forces. Gale happens to be one of them.

  "He was sneaking around," Li Yu explained calmly. "Apparently, he thought he could flank the human defensive line while the main Alliance forces were distracted. Clever strategy given the situation just weeks ago. Unfortunate timing now though."

  "Commander," Matriarch Su stepped forward as her eyes were locked on the old man. "If he is an Emperor, he must know the disposition of the enemy forces. The locations of the other Kings and Emperors. The strategy of this war they started against us. We must interrogate him immediately."

  The old man shivered. Li Yu shook his head.

  "I already tried to get such information," Li Yu said. "Gale here has a soul-lock on his memories regarding the war. All the Emperors do, it is a mutual pack they took to avoid trouble in situations like this.”

  “He can’t tell us anything specific about the enemy leadership or their plans. It’s like the memory doesn’t even exist anymore. I am not sure if I am going to keep him alive either. He has a lot of blood on his hands."

  The commanders looked at the old man with a mix of hatred and pity. To be a glorious Emperor one moment and maybe a silenced servant the next... it was a fate worse than death for some. However, this emperor begged Li Yu to keep him alive and serve instead of dying. It is not a choice everyone would make.

  "Does he have any use then?" Lei asked bluntly. "Aside from being a servant?"

  "He knows the terrain," Li Yu said. "And he knows the local beasts. He also admitted to me about who and what he has killed. You will just have to trust me but he is telling the truth or else I would know."

  The old man trembled. "I... I have killed many. But... mostly my own."

  "Your own?" Zhou frowned.

  "The weak," Gale whispered. "The... the failures. Those that were unfit for my armies. I culled them. To build the army."

  "He’s got a lot of blood on his hands," Li Yu said. "But most of it is beast blood. Your enemies technically. He was a tyrant to his own kind. Which means he’s perfect for keeping the remaining beasts in line while we set up the formation. They fear him more than they fear us."

  Li Yu patted the old man on the shoulder. It almost caused him to nearly collapse after what Li Yu had just said about keeping him alive. Li Yu had promised him in the rift that he would think about it after they had a real chat. If it made sense then he could be kept around.